?-Hydroxytropolones are promising pharmacophores for therapeutic development. However, structure-function studies on the molecules have been hampered due to a scarcity of synthetic methods available to access them. The following research will leverage a newly established oxidopyrylium cycloaddition/ring-opening strategy in a series of biological studies on a-hydroxytropolones, and expand the methodology to include a promising subclass of the molecules. Specifically, a computational chemistry-assisted structure-function study will be carried out toward a potent and selective a-hydroxytropolone-based HIV RT RNase H inhibitor. These compounds will also be tested for their antiviral activity for Hepatitis B and Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and 2. New chemical probes will also be synthesized for use in proteomic studies for studying a-hydroxytropolone cytotoxicity. Finally, the chemistry will be expanded to include 3, 7-dihydroxytropolones, which have shown promising cellular antiviral activity for HIV, and have demonstrated activity in animal model studies for malaria and melanoma comparable to current therapeutic agents. The molecules will be tested for their antiviral activity in preliminary structure-function studies against HIV, Hepatitis B and Herpes Simplex Virus. The research proposed is thus a critical step in what is anticipated to be a long-term research program aimed at thoroughly evaluating the therapeutic potential of ?-hydroxytropolones, with a major goal being the establishment of a new platform for drug development.